American Express Purchase Protection Program

American Express cards offer a number of benefits and perks. One that can provide peace of mind – and not to mention free – is the American Express Purchase Protection plan.

Disclaimer: American Express is a CreditCardForum.com advertising partner. Check and confirm all rules, exclusions, and limitations with American Express directly before making your purchases. This overview is a summary only and is not guaranteed to be completely accurate or up-to-date. It is your own responsibility to check with American Express directly for all coverage information.

How do you participate?

It’s simple. Just use any participating American Express card for your eligible purchases and you will be automatically covered for up to 90 days from date of purchases against both accidental damage as well as theft, subject to the program rules.

Which items are there exclusions for?

Not surprisingly, American Express imposes some Purchase Protection exclusions. In my opinion they are pretty fair and reasonable exclusions:

medical equipment – such as hospital and dental equipment

limited lifespan & perishable items – because you forgot to eat your pineapple before it went rotten, don’t try and make a Purchase Protection claim with AmEx! The “limited lifespan” items consist of things like light bulbs, batteries, and perfume.

motor vehicles – That means you can’t buy your Porsche with an Amex Platinum, total it a week later, and expect Amex to pay. This also applies to planes, helicopters, boats, motorcycles, etc. Individual motors, parts, and accessories aren’t covered either.

living things – Sorry but American Express won’t pay for that houseplant you forgot to water. Same applies to that pet goldfish.

antiques and used items – Or in other words, Purchase Protection applies only to new items

gift cards/certificates/tickets – This includes travel checks, store gift cards, and anything equivalent to cash. This exclusion is a no-brainer, since obviously it would be a big fraud risk to allow it.

rare stamps and coins – Amex doesn’t list more details about this exclusion. The coins would fall under the previous category anyway, but as far as stamps, I’m assuming neither “regular” stamps nor “rare” stamps would be covered since they are probably considered tickets/certificates.

pairs/sets – If you make an eligible purchase that comes in a set or a pair, the coverage will apply only to the the part or parts affected (i.e. if only one item in a pair is broken, coverage won’t apply to both items)

commercial/professional/resale purchases – the Purchase Protection plan paperwork doesn’t go into detail, but to be safe, I would just go ahead and assume all business specific purchases are not covered, unless an AmEx CSR tells you otherwise.

What circumstances are there exclusions for?

As a general rule of thumb, coverage applies to accidental damage and theft. However, there are some circumstances where even those won’t be covered:

exclusions you would expect: claims resulting from act of war, military service, confiscation by government, damage through alteration (i.e. hemming your pants incorrectly), normal wear and tear, leaving property at unattended construction site, or while you are breaking the law.

exclusions you might not expect: claims resulting from protest/riot/civil disturbance, natural disasters, baggage theft if not carried by hand or under supervision of traveling companion (however some American Express credit cards have separate baggage insurance coverage), lost or misplaced items

How much can you claim?

First of all it’s important to remember that American Express Purchase Protection coverage is in excess of any other sources of coverage you may have. For example, if an item stolen out of your car is eligible to be covered by your car insurance, you can’t make a Purchase Protection claim with AmEx for it, too.

Typically coverage is up to $1,000 per eligible claim, subject to yearly maximums. Now if you’re a high roller and have the Platinum charge card, coverage is up to $10,000 per incident (10x higher!).

How to make a claim?

From my experience, it has always been easy. For example, I bought one of those bullet blenders and it broke a month later… called up Amex and did the claim over the phone in 5 minutes. They ended up just crediting my account for the purchase price. For more expensive items or those that can be repaired, the process may be different, but regardless it should be an easy and straightforward process.

I have also heard a number of successful AmEx Purchase Protection iPhone claims. However as a word of caution, I could see this possibly causing a problem since the iPhone technically isn’t paid for in full if you bought it with an American Express (because the normal price is around $600 but AT&T rebates it and sells it for $200 with a 2 year contract).

So if you have a Purchase Protection iPhone claim, keep this in mind as I could anticipate this possibly causing a problem. If your claim is successful, the claims reported are for the amount they charged to their American Express card and no more than that (so you won’t get $600 if you paid $200).

Which AmEx cards come with the Purchase Protection plan?

All U.S. cards issued by American Express come with this benefit.

Comments

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

when you read the fine legal print in the benefits for the Platinum card it actually says for the Purchase Protection that it is only an “excess” coverage if you already have home/renter’s insurance, and you technically have to submit your home/renter’s insurance declaration form, which in turn means your home/renter’s insurance may raise your premiums on the long run every time you file a claim. Would have been too good to be true if Amex would assume primary coverage for loss/theft/damage. They cleverly never mention this though in any of their application pages or benefit overviews.https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/pdf/card-benefits/PlatinumCardfromAmericanExpress/PP-DOC-CCSG.pdf

confirm that for an iPhone claim they will only pay the amount of the initial charge, and not the replacement cost. My wife bought a refurbished 4S on Black Friday for $0.99, and lost it over Christmas. Amount paid by Amex: $1. Amount to replace from AT&T: ~ $500. Don’t expect this the make you whole again.

Bought perfume from the duty-free shop at the airport right before I got on the plane with my American Express card. I forgot it on the plane and when I called the airline to see if they found it in the overhead they said no. The whole overhead compartment was occupied by only me and my family, so I’m pretty sure the people who were cleaning the plane took it.

I have AE platinum and I purchased their traveler insurance, so I thought I would be covered. especially since I lost it the same day I bought it. Boy, was I wrong…they said they couldn’t do anything for me because is a consumable… they will file a claim but it wasn’t covered. WTF! 220$ gone, should of just lied and said it was something else if I knew having insurance and Platinum didn’t do anything for me.

If you own a home this is a useless benefit, as you must file a homeowners claim (even though it is under the deductible) to use it. The cost of doing that in the long haul is greater than the benefit.

Friends

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